Hannibal "Mike" Ware

Hannibal “Mike” Ware was sworn in as Inspector General on May 24, 2018, following his confirmation by the U.S. Senate. He is responsible for independent oversight of SBA’s programs and operations, which normally encompass more than $100 billion in guaranteed loans and nearly $100 billion in Federal contracting dollars. As a result of SBA’s role in the nation’s pandemic response, he is providing oversight of over a trillion dollars of lending authority aimed at stabilizing the nation’s economy and providing vital capital to the nation’s small businesses. He also is a statutory member of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency’s (CIGIE) Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC), serving alongside his Inspector General colleagues to provide a whole of Government response to the pandemic oversight effort. Within CIGIE, Inspector General Ware chairs the Audit Committee and is a member of CIGIE’s Executive Council. In addition, Inspector General Ware serves as the Chair of the Subcommittee on Audits for the PRAC. 

Prior to his appointment to be the Inspector General, from April 2016 to January 2017, Mr. Ware served as the Deputy Inspector General, and he served as the Acting Inspector General from January 2017. Mr. Ware has over 30 years of experience within the OIG community. In 1990, he joined DOI OIG’s Virgin Islands field office as an auditor and later became the Field Office Supervisor. Throughout his long and distinguished oversight career, he performed increasingly challenging and vital roles within the OIG community. From the Virgin Islands field office, Mr. Ware was promoted to Eastern Regional Manager, where he provided leadership of all phases of the technical and administrative operation of the region, including planning and managing audits, inspections, evaluations, and joint investigations. Mr. Ware later moved to DOI OIG’s Office of Management and served as the Deputy Assistant Inspector General for Management.  In this capacity, he executed DOI OIG’s independent operating budget and managed the logistical concerns for the office’s nationwide presence. In April 2016, he was appointed to the Senior Executive Service as the SBA OIG Deputy Inspector General.

Mr. Ware holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in accounting from the University of the Virgin Islands and was conferred a degree of Doctorate of Humane Letters by the University in December 2020. He also is a graduate of the Senior Executive Service Career Development Program. He has received numerous awards and honors throughout his career as recognition for his significant work in the Inspector General community. Inspector General Ware is a Chairman Emeritus of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners’ Board of Regents and was recently named Certified Fraud Examiner of the Year by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.